Newark was a rather logical choice for placement of the arena especially given that the city was willing to provide a public financing. If you followed the history of this the orignal plans had the soccer stadium in downtown Newark as well. All of these things sound great but it's very very very difficult to get land rights all put together and also have a vibrant neighborhood surrounding where you place your arena. Just look at Yankee, Mets, Giants and Philly's stadiums. You either go into a slum or go to nowhere with a parking lot. The vision was that when the land swaps were completed they would all require the people to have to build out in a 5 year period. Then James got sloppy and tried pulling a couple of Hail Mary moves at the end of his time as mayor to get the deal completed and it ended up a mess. Land deals weren't done, budgeted money for the parks was used to plug structural deficits and well the rest is pretty evident from the 4 enormous parking lots that surround the arena.
As for the stealing money and PA comment it wouldn't hurt if people actually just did a tad of research and gave accurate information. The Port Authority leases the land from the city of Newark as apposed to the city running the port and airport (Thank god for that). Part of the lease arrangment is that the amount that is paid to Laguardia and JFK is comperable to that of Newark. When this failed to happen Newark sued for breach of contract and were looking to get a huge lease increase as well as a settlment for breach of contract. Unfortunately the city was cash strapped and pushing a publicly funded arena so it settled (most would argue for less than it deserved). The settlment was cash heavy up front (this shouldnt' suprise you about politicians, Sharp does this and Booker tries to sell off his water resevoirs for a cash up front deal) and the city bonded the rest for the money to build the arena.

Even if you aren't a big fan of the way the area looks around the arena right now, you only need to go to Ferry street to experience a cool bar/restaurant/nightlife scene that rivals anywhere in NJ. Downtown Newark on the otherhand has a long way to go till it can rival that neighborhood.

Even if you aren't a big fan of the way the area looks around the arena right now, you only need to go to Ferry street to experience a cool bar/restaurant/nightlife scene that rivals anywhere in NJ. Downtown Newark on the otherhand has a long way to go till it can rival that neighborhood.

Which is why the arena is an important catalyst in getting downtown to rival Ferry Street. Part of downtown anyway.

No land in Hoboken to build an arena, nowhere to park...its too small there. How could people rag on me for saying Parsippany and try and make a case for Hoboken o.O

People are ragging on you for Parsippany because you're clueless in the sense that you can't build something like that in a bedroom community or in suburbia for many reasons.

I'm from Morris County. I lived in Parsippany for 3 years and it's just not even a smart observation to even suggest.

Hoboken was McMullen's pipe dream. The traffic would have been a nightmare and you'd probably be forced to use public trans. McMullen had the spot picked out and an artist's conception done of it. There was room there. If you want to read about the Devils and Hoboken it's easy enough to Google. Maybe add in the term "air rights" as well.

In any case, the devils still have one of the nicest arenas in the country and the city of Newark has a crappy lease that at this point does them no benifit. I would love the city to sell it's interest but they would just waste the money and technically it's the NHA's arena so it could potentially end up building affordable housing (ie projects) which I think we can honestly say we have enough of.

youre pretty dumb. The Driscoll bridge is about a 40 drive from Ocean County. Often known as the bridge that serperates north and south jersey.

Thanks for the childish insult. Id return it to you since your reply is easy to pick apart and that you totally missed the point of my post., but i wont. Instead, i'll just 'clarify' that i know Ocean County isnt near the Driscoll Bridge. Shameful that your reading comprehension skills interpreted it that way, really.

People are ragging on you for Parsippany because you're clueless in the sense that you can't build something like that in a bedroom community or in suburbia for many reasons.

I'm from Morris County. I lived in Parsippany for 3 years and it's just not even a smart observation to even suggest.

Hoboken was McMullen's pipe dream. The traffic would have been a nightmare and you'd probably be forced to use public trans. McMullen had the spot picked out and an artist's conception done of it. There was room there. If you want to read about the Devils and Hoboken it's easy enough to Google. Maybe add in the term "air rights" as well.

There is plenty of room off of 80 to build what was needed. It's anything but not smart. Building an arena in one of the most crime infested areas of New Jersey = not smart. Wasn't it in the top 30 most dangerous cities last year?

There is plenty of room off of 80 to build what was needed. It's anything but not smart. Building an arena in one of the most crime infested areas of New Jersey = not smart.

Where off of 80? You keep saying that as a vague opinion, but not giving exact places. I live between Parsippany and Hopatcong and there's no where to build an arena like The Rock. You're also forgetting the political aspects concerning building that kind of project in the suburbs which will face opposition, property ownerships, town/county budget shortfalls and traffic concerns on an already overcrowded and dangerous stretch of rt. 80. It takes enough political kickbacking to build recreation parks in Morris County. If you think Newark can't find it's ass with both hands politically concerning this arena, then you don't know much about Morris County.

There is plenty of room off of 80 to build what was needed. It's anything but not smart. Building an arena in one of the most crime infested areas of New Jersey = not smart. Wasn't it in the top 30 most dangerous cities last year?

There is plenty of room off of 80 to build what was needed. It's anything but not smart. Building an arena in one of the most crime infested areas of New Jersey = not smart. Wasn't it in the top 30 most dangerous cities last year?

Look it's fine that all of you are seemingly so protective of Newark but there are reasons why I don't like it there too much.(Bad experiences that I rather not talk about) but I go w/my folks n sometimes friends (Med reasons are the main reason why I haven't moved out) out of loyalty and because the games are fun. (The prices for tickets aren't bad either.)

Look it's fine that all of you are seemingly so protective of Newark but there are reasons why I don't like it there too much.(Reasons that I rather not talk about) but I go w/the folks n friends (Med reasons are the main reason why I haven't moved out) out of loyalty and because the games are fun. (The prices for tickets aren't bad either. Not a bad seat at the joint either...C.A.A. had some nose bleeders but even the high-rise seats at the Rock are pretty good.)

A lot of us appear to be able to see the shortcomings of Newark. But most realize that it is as close a balance as a place like NJ is going to get.

You don't seem to be able to see the large limitations of the site you seem to like. You really need to take the blinders off.